No Child Left Behind.

[davemincin]

Talked to Chris Harrison last night...Damned if I can remember, but believe he is a porc down in NC or somewhere around there.  He's big on the damn government NCLB, says Utah is ready to make a stand!   Hoping there might be a group on board with this in NH...Anyone have any contacts or have anyone I can contact.  I have the contact re Chris for the folks in Utah, hoping we might put something together to show our support here in NH.  Anyone have any help here, re contacts?

WARNING  THIS E-MAIL IS INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR NH RESIDENT ACTIVISTS.  IF THIS E-MAIL IS NOT INTENDED FOR YOU, PLEASE DELETE NOW AND FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE, DO NOT SPANK CHRIS!!!

Os, B and NH Activists,
    A few days ago we received an e-mail that informed us that Utah was disengaging from the No Child Left Behind federal program.  I was very encouraged to hear about this and wanted to talk to the Utah House Rep who spearheaded this action.  Her name is Margaret Dayton.  We talked over the phone today for over 20 minutes and I wanted to share with you some of the salient points in the conversation.
1.  UTAH has not as yet disengaged from the NCLB.
Two preliminary votes in the House were 100% for disengagement.  One preliminary vote in the Senate was 100% for disegagement. No nays in any of the votes.  The senate was preparing to make their second vote which would have cinched the deal but the Governor stepped in and asked that the vote be taken after the recess, which they agreed to do.  It sounds like to Margaret Dayton that the Bush Administration is putting terrific pressure on UTAH to not disengage.  For starters they are threatening to use Utah for nuclear waste storage and the Congress has just passed a law that stops federal money on a particular program if the state is not enrolled in NCLB. This of course is just the beginning of the administration starting to flex its muscle. Surely there will be more coming and probably more drastic consequences.
2.  Mrs Dayton had not heard of the FSP and she is very interested and asked me numereous questions about us.  She wants to track us and keep informed of our progress.  I gave her our website. 
3.  She stated that there are two principal reasons why Utah wants to disengage from the NCLB.
  A.  There is absolutely no constitutional provision for the
       federal government to stick their nose in Utah's
       educational systems.
  B.  Utah's citizens are sick and tired of federal guidelines
       altering their educational processes.
I am going to give you Mrs. Dayton's phones and e-mails for you activists.  You may want to contact her yourselves or have the NH House and Senate members contact her.  She told me that there are several states waiting in the background to disengage from NCLB but are waiting to see how Utah does it.
Margaret Dayton, Republican Utah House of Representatives   State House  801-538-1029 
mdayton@utah.gov
Home  801-221-0623

This is big folks, thought you might want to know.
Chris

[Dreepa]

Cool.

[Russell Kanning]

We have people moving from Utah....some are already here and others are in route.

Chris is from Alabama.

People in Utah sometimes talk big, but deep down they love the government. Utah is to WY as say ....Vermont is to NH. Utah has been following CA into socialism....just 2 step behind. It would be cool if they did something...but they are dyed-in-the-wool Republicans...they can't stray too far off the reservation.

[Dreepa]

Utah is to WY as say ....Vermont is to NH.

That would make a great bumper sticker!

[Russell Kanning]

For California you could do CA->NV          MA->NH

[Michael Fisher]

We have people moving from Utah....some are already here and others are in route.

Chris is from Alabama.

People in Utah sometimes talk big, but deep down they love the government. Utah is to WY as say ....Vermont is to NH. Utah has been following CA into socialism....just 2 step behind. It would be cool if they did something...but they are dyed-in-the-wool Republicans...they can't stray too far off the reservation.

Yep.  I lived in Utah for 15 years and did not belong there at all.  People in Utah that I know tell me their taxes are very low...   

[Russell Kanning]

Yep.? I lived in Utah for 15 years and did not belong there at all.? People in Utah that I know tell me their taxes are very low...? ?

Ouch......everyone has their level of comfort
I met a guy in WY that thought it was against the law for a state to have no sales tax  (WY has no income tax, but 4% sales tax) and he lives right next to MT (MT has no sales tax, but low income taxes)
He wouldn't believe me that NH didn't have sales or "personal" income tax

[KBCraig]

Yep.  I lived in Utah for 15 years and did not belong there at all.  People in Utah that I know tell me their taxes are very low...   

Perhaps compared to what the LDS church demands from them, anything the government comes up with seems reasonable!

Kevin

[davemincin]

Hey guys you float! ? Expect I do too! ? Anyway I have tried, unsuccessfully so far, to contact the gal in Utah.? Does anyone have any info on a NH based group that might be against? NCLB?

Not into going into details now, but know my thought is it is a scarely piece of legislation, all about government planning, and chucking out good little indians!

[Russell Kanning]

The only groups in NH I came up with was the NHLA, Liberty Tree Learning Center, Liberty Scholarship Fund and a couple of porcupine groups. 

[AlanM]

The easiest way to get rid of No Child Left Behind is to stop accepting Federal Education Funds.

[Dave Ridley]

Looks like the ball is in our court .... as usual (LOL)

Until or unless we organize something, letters to the editor are an easy way to raise heck over this:

http://freestateproject.org/about/essay_archive/BeTheMedia.php

[GT]

I haven't paid a lot of attention to the whole NCLB issue. Can anyone give a quick blurb about what it is and does? Thanks.

[davemincin]

Basicly in order to recieve Fed money it places a consideral number of federal regulations on
our local schools.  It essentially, if you read what it says, and doesn't say, an attempt by the feds to turn our kids into good little politically correct obedient soldiers.  I have some info here and will try to dig it up as time permits.

I'll also try again to touch base with the rep in Utah next week and see if she may have some suggestion.

[Russell Kanning]

Bush came up with it as a way to try to make all the public schools live up to a certain level....so no child would be left behind.